What's really slowing down the AI buildout
The Works in Progress Newsletter 3 months ago 53
The Stargate project in Texas and other AI infrastructure buildouts face a primary bottleneck: the electric grid's interconnection process is severely backlogged, with median wait times for connection jumping from 20 months in 2005 to 55 months by 2023. Major AI companies including OpenAI, Meta, and Nvidia have stated they need more electricity than currently available, with Stargate alone requiring 1.2 gigawatts at peak load. Fixing grid interconnection procedures and shifting from first-come, first-served queuing to market-based allocation would allow faster deployment of data centers and power plants needed to sustain AI development.